Two Gers academy stars are heading into what could be a career defining season and, despite there being a couple of years between the pair, their respective stories are eerily similar over the last couple of seasons.
The Scottish Sun has reported on where Josh McPake and Glenn Middleton will be playing their football in 2021/22 and, by the looks of it, it won’t be at Ibrox.
McPake is said to be heading to Morecambe Town and Middleton will be returning to St Johnstone if the rumours are accurate, of course.
Both forwards made their debuts as teenagers, McPake at 17 and Middleton at 18 with the latter playing over 30 times for Steven Gerrard in his first season in charge, however, things haven’t quite gone to plan since – until the second half of last season that is.
In 2019/20 Middleton turned down the opportunity to head to the Netherlands and NAC Breda, instead choosing to go to Hibernian, on paper a great move but, at the time, the manager was struggling and he found game time limited. A spell at Bradford City was then curtailed by Covid-19 before making just a solitary appearance for Rangers in the league cup – at left-back – against Falkirk.
Heading out to St Johnstone has rejuvenated his prospects though, scoring important goals and making a real contribution as they finished in the top six and won the Scottish Cup, it’s easy to see why Callum Davidson is a fan.
He is still under contract until 2023 so has plenty of time still to develop, we only have to look across the city at the likes of Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie and James Forest to see that not all players make an immediate contribution in the first XI – Middleton really needs to hit decent figures in terms of goals and assists though if he is to have any chance of a future at Rangers.
As for McPake, the initial excitement of him bursting into the first-team has been tempered with poor loan spells in Scotland’s lower leagues, however, after starring at Harrogate last season, getting the opportunity to play a full season in League 1 – at 19-year old – will be a real test of character.
Like Middleton though, as a forward and especially one who has aspirations of playing for Rangers, it’s all about the numbers. We would all love to see homegrown talent in the match day squads but they have to be good enough, something the flying pair will be desperate to prove when the new season kicks off.